From DAOs to Crypto: How Blockchain is Impacting the C-Suite
While companies globally are embracing blockchain, from smart contracts to using blockchain-based currencies, it is still full of risk and uncertainty. Many of the fundamental challenges of blockchain-driven disruption — cybersecurity threats, crypto-related fraud and financial crime, financial reporting questions, the need for legal frameworks for digital assets and DAOs — have yet to be fully addressed.
Arthur D. Little Executive Bootcamp, From DAOs to Crypto: How Blockchain is Impacting the C-Suite, provides an opportunity to learn about what enthusiasts view as the many benefits and the many risks of DAOs, crypto, and digital currencies in general, from two leading academics—Professors Robert D. Austin and Charles C. Y. Wang—and also from your executive peers in diverse industries and geographies. In two, 2-hour virtual, interactive sessions, you'll dig into two recent and important business cases, gaining clarity and a new depth of understanding of the nuanced issues the C-Suite and top executives face as they navigate the business opportunities and threats blockchain-based innovations present.
Day 1, Feb 1, 2023 | 8am-10am EST | 2pm-4pm CET | 5pm- 7pm GST | see your local time
Governance by DAO: Is It Truly Feasible?
Using the case, The DAO Hack: A Blockchain Dilemma, Ivey Business School Professor Rob Austin will examine what happens when the “pure power of working code” replaces lawyers, employees, and traditional corporate governance. Enforcement is built into the code—an agreement is upheld automatically—but can the complex concept of trust be captured in code? What about when money is taken that is not theft, as per the code, but clearly is from a moral perspective? If a DAO is the purest and most mature expression of the blockchain vision, how far are we from achieving that vision? By the end of this session, you’ll have a much clearer understanding of the challenges that exist when code replaces corporate governance.
Day 2, Feb 2, 2023 | 8am-10am EST | 2pm-4pm CET | 5pm- 7pm GST | see your local time
Making the Leap to Bitcoin
Via the case, Accounting for Bitcoin at Tesla, you’ll take a deep dive into blockchain-based currencies via the first digital currency, Bitcoin. Is Bitcoin — or other digital currencies, such as CBDCs — a smart financial investment for companies, especially during an era of high inflation? Does being an early adopter provide brand value, demonstrating leadership and innovation in all things digital, as well as a valuable learning opportunity, and a chance to influence emerging regulations? Or, does the proven volatility of these currencies, risk of fraud, and financial-reporting complexity present risks that outweighs any benefits? What are the corporate governance and financial performance implications of buying Bitcoin?
Harvard Business School Professor Charlie Wang will examine digital currencies through the lens of financial management and governance to help you evaluate if this blockchain-enabled innovation is one to pursue.
Join this Bootcamp and discover what risks your organization might face and gain insight into some of the ways your enterprise could innovate with blockchain to benefit from its opportunities. Seats in From DAOs to Crypto: How Blockchain is Impacting the C-Suite are limited; register your team today.
Who Should Attend: Teams of 2-5 executives and decisionmakers
Date/Time:
- EST: Feb 1 and 2, 8:00am-10:00am
- CET: Feb 1 and 2, 2:00pm-4:00pm
- GST: Feb 1 and 2, 5:00pm-7:00pm
- See your local time
- Arthur D. Little clients: contact your ADL Partner or Anne Mullaney for your special invitation.
- Non-clients: $4995 per team.
Registration is closed.
Robert D. Austin is Professor of Information Systems at Ivey Business School and an affiliated faculty member at Harvard Medical School. For many years, Dr. Austin served as Chair of Harvard Business School’s executive program for CIOs and is a former HBS Professor in economics, financial reporting, IT, and operations management for MBAs and executives. He has consulted with and delivered education experiences to many multinational corporations, working mostly with C-level executives. 
Charles C.Y. Wang is professor of business administration in the Accounting and Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He is a former lecturer in law and economics at Harvard Law School and a past fellow in its Olin Program on Corporate Governance. Professor Wang's research focuses on corporate governance and equity valuation. It has been published in Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, and the Boston Globe, as well as in leading academic journals including Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Accounting and Economics, and Accounting Review. 